To Thomas Archer
　　Island of Tahiti, November, 1888.
　　Dear Tom:
　　This is a much better place for children than any I have hitherto seen in these seas. The girls, and sometimes the boys, play a very grand kind of hopscotch.
　　The boys play horses just as we do in Europe. They also have very good fun on stilts, trying to knock each other down, in which they do not often succeed.
　　The children of all ages go to church, and are allowed to do what they please, running about the aisles, rolling balls, stealing mamma’s bonnet and sitting on it, and at last going to sleep in the middle of the floor.
　　I forgot to say that the whips to play horse, and the balls to roll about the church grow ready-made on trees. The whips are so good that I wanted to play horse myself; but no such luck! my hair is gray, and I am a great, big, ugly man. The balls are rather hard, but very light and quite round.
　　But what I really wanted to tell you was this: beside the tree-top toys (Hush-a-by, toy shop, on the tree-top!), I have seen some real made toys, the first observed in the South Seas. This was how. You are to think of a four-wheeled gig; one horse; in the front seat two Tahiti persons, in their Sunday clothes, blue coat, white shirt, kilt of blue stuff with big white or yellow flowers, legs and feet bare; in the back seat me and my wife, who is a friend of yours. We have straw hats, for the sun is strong.
　　We drive between the sea and the mountains. The road is cut through a forest mostly of fruit trees. The very creepers are heavy with a great and delicious fruit, bigger than your head and far nicer.
　　Presently we came to a house in a pretty garden, quite by itself, very nicely kept, the doors and windows open, no one about, and no noise but that of the sea. It looked like a house in a fairy tale. Just beyond we had to ford a river, and there we saw the people.
　　In the mouth of the river, where it met the sea waves, the children were ducking and bathing and screaming together like a flock of birds: seven or eight little brown boys and girls as happy as the day was long; and on the banks of the stream beside them, real toys- toy ships, full rigged, with their sails set, though they were lying in the dust on their beam ends.
　　You may care to hear, Tom, about the children in these parts; their parents obey them; they do not obey their parents; and I am sorry to tell you (for l dare say you are already thinking the idea a good one) that it does not pay one halfpenny.
　　There are three ways of living, Tom: the real old-fashioned one, in which children had to find out how to please their dear papas, or their dear papas cut their heads off. This style did very well, but is now out of fashion.
　　Then there is the style that is followed in Europe; in this, children have to behave pretty well, go to school, and so on, or their dear papas will know the reason why. This does fairly well.
　　Then there is the South Sea Island plan, which does not do one bit. The children beat their parents here; it does not make their parents any better; so do not try it.
　　Remember us all to all of you, and believe me, yours,
　　Robert Louis Stevenson
　　致托馬斯·阿切爾的一封信
　　親愛的湯姆：
　　這里真是我迄今見過的海外最適合孩子們生活的地方了。女孩們會玩各種跳房子的游戲，有時(shí)候男孩子也會加入她們的游戲。
　　這里的男孩也像歐洲的男孩們一樣，喜歡玩一種叫作“騎馬”的游戲，大家蹦跳著要去撞倒對方，雖然經(jīng)常徒勞無功，但卻樂在其中。
　　孩子們不論年齡大小都要去教堂，他們在教堂里可以隨心所欲：在過道里奔跑，追逐滾來滾去的球，偷拿媽媽的帽子當(dāng)墊子坐，玩累了就躺在地上睡覺。
　　我忘了說一件事，孩子們把樹枝當(dāng)作騎馬游戲用的鞭子，把樹上結(jié)的種子當(dāng)作球在教堂里滾來滾去。那些鞭子簡直太棒了，我都忍不住想要玩一玩騎馬游戲了。不幸的是，我頭發(fā)花白，又老又丑，已經(jīng)成了個(gè)大人。那些球全都又堅(jiān)韌又輕巧，還圓溜溜的。
　　對了，我想跟你說，包括這些“樹上結(jié)的玩具”在內(nèi)（噓！聽我說，玩具店真的就在樹頂上），我曾經(jīng)還見過真正鬼斧神工的造物。這是我在南太平洋的一個(gè)新發(fā)現(xiàn)。情景是這樣的，你不妨想象一下：一輛四輪馬車上，兩名身穿周日便服的塔希提人坐在前面，他們上身是白色襯衫加藍(lán)色外套，下身是一條大白花或是大黃花的藍(lán)底蘇格蘭短裙，光著腿赤著腳；我和我的妻子（她當(dāng)然也是你的朋友）坐在后面，戴著大大的草帽來遮擋強(qiáng)烈的陽光。
　　我們駕車奔馳于大海和大山之間，從果樹林里穿過。又大又香的果實(shí)沉甸甸地掛在攀援植物上。哈哈，這果子絕對比你的頭要大，當(dāng)然也比你的頭更好吃！
　　不久，我們來到一座漂亮的房子那里，房子四周都是花園，非常安靜，打理得也很好。我們會把門窗全都打開，周圍沒有一個(gè)人，沒有一點(diǎn)喧囂，只聽見海浪輕輕拍打的聲音。屋子仿佛置身于童話故事里。我們渡過一條小河，才能看得到人群。
　　就在這條小河與海洋相匯的河口，孩子們像小鳥一樣嬉鬧著，他們潛入水中，在河里洗澡，興奮地尖叫。七八個(gè)棕色皮膚的小孩子終日玩耍，非常開心。河岸上，一群小孩子將玩具船駛向河面。這些玩具船像真正的船一樣配上索具，揚(yáng)帆起航，雖然最后它們終將葬身于河底的淤泥。
　　湯姆，可能你聽說過，這里的孩子不聽父母的，相反，他們的父母總是聽他們的。我不得不遺憾地告訴你（我敢說你一定想聽），事實(shí)并非如此。
　　這里有三種教育子女的辦法：一種是很傳統(tǒng)的方式，孩子們得學(xué)會取悅父親，否則父親會威脅要砍掉他們的腦袋。這種方式很管用，不過現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)過時(shí)了。
　　第二種方式在歐洲也很流行。孩子們得好好表現(xiàn)，要么上學(xué)，要么干其他的營生，否則父親非得尋根究底不可。這種方式也很管用。
　　第三種方式就是這個(gè)南太平洋島嶼特有的了，可以說一點(diǎn)用都沒有。這里的孩子打自己的父母，這種辦法可沒有讓他們的父母變得更好。因此，你還是不要去嘗試這種方法了。
　　記得代我們?nèi)�家向你們�(nèi)�家問好�?br />　　羅伯特·路易斯·斯蒂文森
　　1888年11月，寫于塔希提島
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